Radeon R9 280X vs Radeon Sky 500

In this comparison between Radeon R9 280X and Radeon Sky 500 you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people Radeon R9 280X will be the best choice, for others Radeon Sky 500 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  Radeon R9 280X Radeon Sky 500
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 150 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin 1x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 4 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon R9 280X has 66% more power consumption, than Radeon Sky 500.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • Radeon Sky 500 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon R9 280X.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon R9 280X is build with GCN architecture, and Radeon Sky 500 - with GCN 1.0.
  • Radeon R9 280X and Radeon Sky 500 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon R9 280X is 33 mm longer, than Radeon Sky 500.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 35−40
ultra / 1080p 21−24 21−24
QHD / 1440p 16−18 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 60−65
medium / 1080p 40−45 40−45
Radeon R9 280X and Radeon Sky 500 have the same average FPS in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Full Specs

  Radeon R9 280X Radeon Sky 500
Architecture GCN GCN 1.0
Code name Thaiti XTL Pitcairn
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 8 October 2013 27 March 2013
Pipelines 2048 1280
Core clock speed 950 MHz
Boost Clock 1000 MHz
Transistor count 4,313 million 2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 128.0 76.00
Floating-point performance 4,096 gflops 2,432 gflops
Length 275 mm 242 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth 288 GB/s 154 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.1 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan + 1.2.131
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.5 kh/s
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 3.0 PCIe 3.0
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 494 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
HD3D +
TrueAudio +
Design reference
DisplayPort support +
CrossFire +
DDMA audio +
Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.07 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.42 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 285 Sol/s
Form factor full height / full length
DisplayPort count 1
Dual-link DVI support +
AppAcceleration +
LiquidVR +
TressFX +
UVD +
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